Vince Pitched Cena As Bret Hart Style Heel

[Captain Stud Muffin (BLM)]

https://www.instagram.com/p/CP4Q1m8BkNB

Right call on his part imo. He was already heel to some fans and if you going do it, you got to go all in like Roman did

[Vice honcho room temperature]

I wonder if they mapped out exactly where Cena is heel vs. Face

[This Player Hating Mothman]

What would that even entail? It doesn't sound like a good idea at all, but it's weird as hell because I'm not sure what angle they could have even worked for that. Bret's heel turn was legendary for how ideologically it all made sense and he was railing against what was effectively the fanbase itself shifting away from him culturally. Cena never stood for anything that you can make that transition with.

[Deleted]

This would have been male fans v woman/kids fans replacing the USA v Canada part of the character I assume, it would allow him to still do charity and pr work but he’d still cut heel promos on half the crowd. It’s not far off what he was but in character he’d be more self aware and relish it more.

[Perd]

“Frustrated isn’t the baloney fudgin' mustard word for it!"

[Venti]

Jun 10, 2021 0:19:23 GMT -5 Perd said:

“Frustrated isn’t the baloney fudgin' mustard word for it!"

This is bullhockey!

[Legion]

Makes sense to me, I just dont know how they pull it off.

Cena's main fan base was kids, so I dont know how you have him actively heeling to grown men while keeping kids on side.

Cena was likely right. Straight up heel Cena would have been best, but that's basically what happened with Bret outside of Canada, so the end result of heel Cena would have been the same however they did the turn.

[Eunös ✈]

So he would be a Babyface in the States and a Heel in the rest of the world?

[Mozenrath]

It's something that worked with Bret largely due to Austin's existence. I honestly question if it'd have even worked with Bret if you didn't have Austin to introduce that nuance.

In most cases, though, half-measures are just shitty, as evidenced by how much damage it did to booking when Vince just threw up his hands and said it didn't matter for most of their wrestlers, especially the women, if they were face or heel.

[thechase]

The closest we got to this being realized was in 2011-2012 during the initial Rock feud, Cena at that point was summed up brilliantly by the 'New York Yankees' promo from Punk

[rnrk supports BLM]

How well this would've worked is so variable depending on when this was pitched and who would've been the faces positioned opposite Cena.

Because as great as it sounds thinking about Punk or Bryan as the big hero against him, it's way more likely this would've been more Cena vs HHH/Orton but with the alignments flipped. Which would've been just as stale and dire, but with worse merch sales.

[Fade is a CodyCryBaby]

Jun 9, 2021 23:18:46 GMT -5 @selhurst said:

This would have been male fans v woman/kids fans replacing the USA v Canada part of the character I assume, it would allow him to still do charity and pr work but he’d still cut heel promos on half the crowd. It’s not far off what he was but in character he’d be more self aware and relish it more.

Was going to say..they weren’t too far off from it.

[Finish Uncle Muffin’s Story]

Knowing where the business is now, they were right to not turn Cena.

I think most fans are cheering whoever they want these days and the notion of faces/heels isn't totally firm anymore. They'd turn the guy heel and then within 6 months everyone would be cheering him and booing the new babyface.

[fw91]

“We’re gonna find out once and for if John Cena can get beat like a man. Because John believe me, you couldn’t go 10 minutes in ANY situation if you know what I mean. And listen here John, even though lately, you have some fearless days, when you were able to look AND touch, my friend, you still can’t get the job done.”

[thecrusherwi]

If Cena were to go heel, I have always thought the best route would be a Mr. Bob Backlund type heel. Like a "Think of the Children!!!" style guy who has taken an extreme moral stance against everything and doesn't see his own hypocrisy.

[peaches1]

Cena was nearly that already with the exception of him not being bitter towards the people who didn't like him ("Rise Above Hate"). Ironically him going down that road and acting more heelish towards his detractors might have had the opposite effect with some of them.

[khali]

Maybe it could have worked in an era where Vince still could do long term nuanced booking, but in modern times it probably wouldn’t have been subtle or consistent enough.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

The people booing would cheer him and vice versa, so you'd be right back in the same place.

[Confused Mark Wahlberg]

Someone puts a red shirt in the white clothes hamper and the guy just snaps.

[KAMALARAMBO: BOOMSHAKALAKA!!!]